ˈsif(ə)lə̇s noun
( -es )
Etymology: New Latin, after Syphilus, the supposed first sufferer from the disease and the hero of the poem Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus (1530), by Girolamo Fracastoro died 1553 Italian physician, astronomer, and poet
: a chronic, contagious, usually venereal, and often congenital disease caused by a spirochete ( Treponema pallidum ) and characterized by a clinical course in three stages continued over many years and lesions that may involve many organs and tissues of the body — see primary syphilis , secondary syphilis , tertiary syphilis